The Cirque
by Kephre
Summary: The year is 1940; Blaine Anderson is living in New York during WWII and for his 21st birthday, he goes to the circus and meets the famous illusionist Kurt Hummel, who seems to have a psychic ability. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I've been on a Klaine roll for weeks now and after a couple of doodles of what I later decided was Kurt in my French notebook, I started writing this. I may come in and change some stuff later. I'm tired of Kurt being the vulnerable one in the relationship, so I'm turning the tables. Mehehehe! **

**Setting is in New York in 1940. I'll try to make the story as accurate to the time period as possible!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kurt or Blaine, as much as I would love to have them :)**

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><p>The Cirque<p>

Blaine Anderson had never been to a cirque before, not until today. It was an overwhelming sight – one of the biggest tents he'd ever seen stood before him, three different peaks to it, with several train cars scattered around its perimeter. Thousands of people scuttled about him in a rush to get their candy before the show began. Blaine, however, stood frozen in place, entranced by the signs that were standing in front of him. 'Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey' was written on them in elegant yet exciting script, and beneath that were drawings of the elephants and the ring leader and all the other different attractions one could see.

It was his twenty-first birthday, and as a gift, his cousin and his closest friend, Angeline, had bought them tickets to the circus. She knew he'd never been but always yearned to go, so she figured he might as well go on his birthday. His parents were still living in Ohio, a long ways away from the hustle and bustle of New York, so of course they didn't attend.

Angeline gripped his hand tightly and turned to him, an excited gleam in her eyes. "This is only my second time to a Ringling Bros. circus. It is the most amazing thing you will ever see, let me promise you that! I can't believe you've never been to one before now…" She kept rambling about the different acts as Blaine led them through the crowd to the ticket booth.

The man in the booth smiled at them and commented on "what a lovely couple they were", hoping they had a great time at the circus and that they should come again soon. He let them through a small entrance in the tent.

It was much bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside; Blaine found it hard to believe they fit all these seats into the tent and still had room for a large stage in the middle. They quickly found their seats – they were in the first section closest to the stage, giving them a spectacular view of the whole stage. They sat down in the chairs and promptly burst out laughing.

"A couple?" Angeline giggled. "Little does he know that we're cousins!"

"I cannot believe he said that," Blaine laughed, bumping foreheads with his red-headed cousin. He opened his mouth to say more, but closed it quickly, thinking better than to spill his biggest secret. Since he was seventeen, he'd known that he wasn't attracted to females. It made what the ticket booth man said all the more silly. He still hadn't told anyone, not even Angeline, for fear that he'd be disowned from his parents, or worse. It wasn't a widely accepted thing for a man to be attracted to other men. Back when he was still living with his parents, he had witnessed many beatings on people who were only suspected to be gay – it was much worse for those who really were gay.

Blaine and Angeline watched as the seats filled up and chattered excitedly, pointing at some of the people who seemed to work in the circus. Some dressed in bright colors, others led the animals to their places.

Soon the lights dimmed and a hush fell over the crowd that had grown to a number that was probably steep of a thousand, way more than Blaine was expecting. A booming voice spilled into the tent over the huge speakers spaced around the stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus!" The man speaking took many dramatic pauses to add suspense. "Today we will be featuring the many talents of our animals, our trapeze artists, our dancers, our acrobatics, and many more! So, without further ado, let the show begin!"

The band started up with a bang – literally – as maybe as many as fifty clowns, some on stilts, poured onto the center stage. Blaine's heart pounded, thrilled, as the clowns elicited laughs from the crowd. Angeline giggled as he leaned forward in his seat like a child in a candy-induced trance, mouth agape and eyes wide open.

As the show went on, the acts got more and more intense, death-defying, and definitely lived up to Blaine's expectations. The trapeze artists caused numerous gasps from the audience as the flyers fell, only to be caught by the next person swinging on the trapeze. The lion and tiger tamers scared Blaine, though, as the cats' giant paws swung dangerously close to the tamers' faces. He wondered how anyone would be willing to put themselves in that situation.

After the tamers, the announcer came over the speakers once more. "And now, for the one, the only illusionist, Kurt the Magnificent!"

The audience clapped happily as a young-looking man promenaded onto the stage. He was dressed in tight, shiny black pant, a nice white dress shirt and a black tailcoat that fluttered nicely behind him as he walked. He was incredibly graceful as he came up onto the stage and bowed to the audience. His light brown hair was styled elegantly and shone from the lights. Blaine couldn't take his eyes off this illusionist – Kurt, they'd said – as he strutted towards a large cage holding an exotic bird.

This illusionist was the most handsome man Blaine had ever seen in his life. If he leaned forward anymore, he would have fallen off of his chair. Angeline took notice to this as she did everything and smiled slightly.

"Thank you, everyone, thank you!" Kurt gushed to the audience. His voice was higher than most males' were at his age but it seemed to fit him. "For my first trick, I'd like a member of the audience! Any volunteers?"

His hand shot up like a rocket, making Angeline laugh. His chances didn't seem great, though, seeing as all the kids in the audience were screaming at the top of their lungs to "pick me, pick me!"

Kurt turned on the balls of his feet, his arms outstretched, begging for someone to come forward. It seemed only the children wanted to volunteer – a boring choice to Kurt. They were too young for the tricks that he had in mind. He was about to give into one particularly loud boy in the third row when one man caught his eyes. He was definitely older than most of the volunteers. He had dark, curly hair and shiny brown eyes and was nearly falling off of his seat, he was straining his hand up so hard. Kurt smiled inwardly, and raised his own gloved hand towards the man. He was attractive, dressed relatively well, and was so excited that it was obvious this was his first time at the circus. The illusionist's heart beat faster. _I could have some fun with this,_ he thought.

"You there, in blue blazer!" Kurt exclaimed, pointing at Blaine, who subsequently pointed at himself as if to say, "Me? Really?"

"Yes, you!" Kurt strode gracefully towards him and held a hand out as Blaine stood up from his chair. "Come up here, sir!" Blaine gripped the illusionist's hand and climbed up on the stage. The crowd clapped despite the stunning number of disappointed children. Kurt led him to the center and spun him around to show him to the people. Standing this close to Kurt, Blaine could see he had small, black triangles painted upside down underneath both of his eyes.

"Mr. Blaine Anderson here has volunteered to be in my latest trick," Kurt said, smiling at Blaine with a twinkle in his eyes. Blaine's own eyes widened. How could this man, who he'd just met and hadn't even spoken one word to, possibly know his name?

"So, Blaine, are you ready to begin?"

Blaine swallowed noisily and nodded at Kurt – of course he wasn't really ready, but then again, he never really would be. The illusionist took his hand once again and led him towards the large cage on the right half of the stage. The bird inside squawked nervously and swiveled its head around to eye Blaine with curiosity. Kurt tossed a piece of fruit in the cage.

"Lower the curtains!" Kurt exclaimed, raising a hand towards the ceiling. Two separate curtains were lowered from above their heads, both hung in a square shape. One came to rest around the bird's cage; the other stopped a few feet away from it.

"For my first illusion, I will take Blaine and the bird and send them to alternate dimensions. In other words, I will make them disappear!" The audience, especially the myriad of children in there, clapped vigorously for Kurt. "Do you think I can do it?"

Cheers erupted once again from the crowd.

"We shall see! Now Blaine, please step into the second curtain over here," Blaine led him over towards the curtain that wasn't hanging over the bird. Blaine swallowed again and moved the velvet curtain aside to let himself inside. Kurt kept it open a second longer and whispered, "You'll have fun, I promise. Don't lose yourself!" The curtains swung closed with a wink.

Blaine heard Kurt's voice faintly through the thick, red piece of fabric surrounding him. The crowd began whooping and clapping deafeningly, it seemed, but he couldn't hear much now. Suddenly, he felt his knees buckle sharply and he collapsed onto the floor. He heard Kurt's voice once more before everything went black.

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><p><strong>Whoop whoop, first chapter down! I'll try to update every week or so but school can get in the way ;_;<strong>

**Thanks for reading this far and please review! :) I appreciate all the comments!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I think I'll try to update every Friday or so, but the homework stuff kind of gets in the way. Eeep! Thanks so much to everyone who read chapter one, reviewed, faved, etc.! This is my first real more-than-one-chapter story, so wish me luck!**

**Also, tell me if you want some steamy scenes with Blaine next chapter. I don't want to moved too fast with the story, but... :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kurt or Blaine or any other Glee characters even though I wish I did D:**

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><p>The wooden stage was gone – totally and completely lost in space. Blaine was lost too, but not without the possibility of being found. He was floating in a dark, purple abyss, small specks of light flitting around him. He swiveled his body in a circle, trying to place himself somewhere, but not finding anything that could ever remotely describe where he was. Finally a sort of landmark appeared; the bird from the circus strode much further away from him, squawking awkwardly and jerking its head in different directions. Blaine would have laughed at the similarity between the bird and himself, but at that moment he was more concerned about where in the world Kurt had sent him.<p>

"Hello?" Blaine called, an echo of his voice coming back quickly.

"Blaine!" the voice was right behind him. Blaine shook from surprised and whipped around to face the illusionist, standing confidently in his shiny leather boots and white gloves. His posture contrasted to Blaine's, who was bent strangely from the lack of gravity. Kurt had a smile plastered onto his face that stretched almost to his ears. "I did the trick right! I'm glad it worked this time."

"This time?" Blaine asked incredulously. Was this really the first time he'd gotten this disappearing act correct? "What do you mean 'this time'?" His voice was rising unintentionally from his panic.

"It means I've never done this act on such a large scale," Kurt said dismissively, as if things like this happened on a daily basis. "It's good that it did, though, or else you might have been lost in a very, very different dimension from this. I've been there before, and let me tell you, it is not an easy thing to live through. I manage."

"You did this in full knowledge that I could have been in danger?" Panic switched to anger in a second. Blaine raised an accusatory finger to Kurt and poked it hard into the taller man's chest. "How in the world would that have turned out? How is this even real, anyway?"

Kurt snatched his hand away from his chest and leaned into Blaine, his lips centimeters away from the other's ear. Blaine shuddered lightly as the illusionist whispered seductively, "Now, now, Mister Anderson, a magician cannot simply reveal all of his tricks, can he?" Kurt pulled back and cocked an eyebrow up, smirking at a defeated Blaine.

He turned on his heels sharply, away from the shorter man, and began walking away. "I've got to get back to the show," his voice floated eerily through the space, landing like music on Blaine's ears. "Sit tight!" The illusionist snapped his fingers and disappeared.

The only remaining human being in the space sighed loudly and ran a hand over his face. "What in the world," he breathed to himself, shaking his head.

It felt almost like an express train had hit him, but in all honesty, Blaine wasn't quite in his right mind so it could have been anything hitting him. All that he knew was that he was back on the stage and there was a dull roar coming from all sides. He stood up slowly to ward off the dizziness that threatened him, but he still was mildly groggy. The first thing he saw was the cage, but the bird wasn't inside it – Blaine was. He gripped the cold, metal bars to steady himself as his vision adjusted. The audience came into view soon after.

He could see Angeline standing up and clapping vigorously, all the while a look on her face said many different things. She was worried for Blaine, happy for the success of the illusionist, among others. He wanted so badly to return to his seat and rid himself of his shaking, comfort Angeline, sit for the sake of sitting, but a firm hand rested on his shoulder now.

"Thank you, thank you!" Kurt gushed to the crowds. He bowed slightly as Blaine's eyes traveled around him. The bird was being led off the stage by the clowns. A sort of stage hand was unlocking the cage and Blaine emerged, still shuddering lightly. Kurt smiled sweetly to him again and spoke into his microphone. "Give a big round of applause to Mister Blaine Anderson! Thank you for volunteering!"

Kurt patted him on the back and moved the mike aside. "You did better than I expected – happy birthday!" he said to the curly haired man as he was ushered back to his seat. It left Blaine in a stump; how did Kurt know all of this?

The rest of the circus went by in a blur; Kurt did a few more tricks that stunned the audience over and over. The elephants came out and danced with the clowns for some time. Other acts came and went, but all the while Blaine couldn't wipe Kurt off of his mind. He had to have an amazing sort of power to make Blaine warp into the cage, but it was impossible to send people to alternate dimensions. Stuff like that was unheard of in their society. It was some sort of trick – Kurt had even said it was – that messed with Blaine's mind for a few seconds as he was probably moved underneath the stage.

But there had been no sign of trap doors, Blaine noted. The stage was too smooth, the wood panels uninterrupted all the way across. That theory was out. There had to be some other explanation, but he couldn't put a finger on it, at least, not with the roar in the circus tent.

Blaine finally returned to earth when the announcer thanked them extensively for coming to the show, that they could visit their favorite performers in their personal tents, and that he hoped they would come back next time. Angeline tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for them to get up. It took them some time before they exited the tent. The crowd was congested around all of the exits and didn't really sort itself out quickly.

Members of the circus were greeting the people exiting the tent and signing their programs happily. Blaine perked up – perhaps he could go find Kurt in the sea of people.

He turned to his cousin, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Angeline, I'll be back in a bit. I'm going to look for the illusionist and, uh," Blaine stammered, a red blush spread over his face, "Th-thank him for letting me participate in the show." He smiled weakly, trying to cover up his obvious nervousness. Angeline laughed a little and patted a pocket on his blazer.

"Knock yourself out, Blainers," she giggled towards him. He caught her eyeing one of the gymnasts who was signing a young boy's autograph book and grinned. It looked as though they might both get lucky today.

Blaine waded through the masses, looking every which way for Kurt but not seeing him anywhere. After about twenty minutes of searching, he caved in with a sigh and went to one of the contortionists for directions. "Hello!" he said with a cheery smile. The contortionist looked up at him from the ground where she was twisted into a pretzel.

"Salutations!" she said. Her voice had a nice ring in it. "My name is Andelle, but you can call me Andie since you're technically one of us now." Andie untwisted her legs and stood up with a cute squeak. Her short hair bounced in this movement. She shook his hand vigorously though he hadn't held it out – an impolite mistake on Blaine's part. "What can I do for you? I assume it's not autographs, correct?"

"That you would be," he chuckled. "I'd like to know where I can talk to the illusionist… uh, Kurt, I mean." Once again the blush was sneaking up his cheeks. He cursed inwardly but kept his calm façade up.

Andie nodded and pointed towards a circus member tent – much, much smaller than the one where the circus was held. "He'd be in that one right there. Be quiet when you go in, though." She smiled knowingly at Blaine and shuffled him off.

He carried himself with uncertainty as he made his way over to Kurt's tent. If worse came to worst he could always blow it off by asking him for his autograph and thanking him for letting him participate in the show. Finally he was at the opening of the tent, his hand lingering on the canvas opening.

"Come in," the illusionist's voice carried through the tent with a crack. Something was off, he could tell, even though he'd only just met this man today. He moved the canvas aside and stepped in. The tent was lit with a small oil lamp in the corner and sent an orangey-yellow glow across Kurt's back. He wasn't facing Blaine; instead, his attention was turned to a tombstone radio set on the floor. The radio announcer was giving news on the latest battles fought in Europe. Blaine was brought back to reality – they were in the middle of the Second World War, and here they were, at a circus. They were busy enjoying themselves while others were out dying for their country. He felt a pang of guilt, amplified when he heard Kurt hiccup quietly.

He immediately went to Kurt's side, his hand hesitantly hovering just over Kurt's shoulder. Kurt was crying, but not the blubbery, messy crying that many girls Blaine knew did. This was a more reserved type of crying, as though he was trying to cover himself.

"What's wrong?" Blaine heard himself say, a sudden burst of confidence and sureness causing him to do so. The hand came down to the illusionist's shoulder and rubbed in gentle circles.

His crying shifted to the harder, deeper kind of tears as Kurt shook his head indignantly. He swatted Blaine's hand away in one quick motion. He stood up, swaying a bit, and backed away a bit. "It's so sad," he sort of groaned, cracking in the middle. He started again. "It's so sad, isn't it? How we're all living our lives over here when our men – boys just our age, maybe younger, even – are over there, dying."

"Kurt?" Blaine cocked his head to one side.

"My brother," fresh tears sprang from Kurt's beautiful blue-green-gray eyes. "He was on one of the lists they announced on the radio. A list of casualties… from the Blitz." Kurt hiccupped again. He shook slightly, but then held his head up higher and rolled his shoulders back. It may have been Blaine's eyes playing tricks on him, but the lamp in the corner began growing brighter as Kurt adjusted himself.

"Kurt, I'm so sorry –"

"I'd like you to leave now."

"What?" Blaine shook his head. He couldn't leave now; he'd only just gotten there.

"You heard me. Drop by tomorrow, though," Kurt added, wiping a stray tear. "Our circus won't be leaving town for a few weeks. You have a lot of questions for me, I'm sure." Blaine's puzzled look was returned with a wink. He stepped out of the tent, leaving Kurt to grieve. It pained him to know that this man, this beautiful, talented man was in a tent, crying because his brother is dead, and he was just going to leave. It was only justified by Kurt telling him to leave, so it wasn't like he had much of a choice.

Blaine met Angeline outside one of the cotton candy stands and soon headed home. He wasn't gifted with much sleep that night. But then again, he wasn't going to get much sleep for a while.

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><p><strong>My dad has a tombstone radio - it's pretty cool. It's a little scratched up but it's nothing some polish can't cover up. I love the antiquity of it.<strong>

**Please review! I know you probably hear that a lot, but seriously. It means a lot to me!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for being so late on this chapter, guys! School has been crazy busy these past few weeks. I'll try to have a new chapter up sometime this week or next!**

**Also, cliffhangers rule**

**disclaimer: I don't own Glee. **

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><p>Most of Blaine's morning was spent pacing around his small flat, wondering whether or not now was too early or too late to go see the mysterious Kurt. He hated to think that he was getting way ahead of himself with this. He didn't even know if the illusionist was homosexual.<p>

His thoughts drifted back to their encounter in the alternate dimension as he sipped slowly from a steaming mug of coffee. He hissed as he burned his tongue and slammed the mug back on the kitchen table.

There was no way on earth that had really happened. He must have been dizzy or tired or some other reason for his mind being completely messed up.

He needed to find out if Kurt really was psychic.

Yes. He was going to know this one way or another.

After he was properly hopped up on caffeine and had assured himself many times over that ten o'clock was not too early to go to the circus, he made his way over. He stalled himself as much as he could because he just couldn't shake the feeling that getting there that early would make him appear too eager and he didn't want to blow his straight façade.

Kurt's tent was right where it had been yesterday but the setting around it had changed significantly. The bustling crowd was gone – only a few of the circus members were seen walking around now. Blaine knocked on one of the poles keeping the tent upright and waited for an answer. He jumped in surprise as the answer came from over his shoulder.

"Blaine Anderson." Kurt stated as Blaine whipped around to face him. The triangles were still under his eyes – perhaps they weren't just the makeup they appeared to be.

"Um," Blaine stuttered, the blood rushing out of his brain and pooling further south.

Nothing went past this mystery man – he snorted and raised a hand to his mouth. "Don't worry, I can do all the talking if you prefer." Blaine's face couldn't possibly turn redder after that comment.

"No, that's okay," he said, quickly gaining his composure again. "Uh, I came, like you told me to." He slapped himself internally. Thinking like that wouldn't make his situation any better.

Kurt chuckled again and invited him inside the tent. It was just as warm-looking as yesterday. The radio was sitting in the same place, spouting the same sad information. Suddenly the room wasn't as warm as he thought. Kurt moved over to the chair stationed in front of a large, white vanity and sat with his legs crossed and hands resting on his knees. He motioned for Blaine to sit on the bed, which he obliged.

It was amazing to Blaine that Kurt seemed incapable of leaving an awkward silence hanging around them. "You came. I guess I didn't really expect you to, but alas, such is life." He smiled widely. Blaine noted that his teeth were perfect and tried not to think about other things that were perfect on Kurt. "Now, to your questions. You want to know about these alternate dimensions, specifically the one I sent you to, correct?"

"Yes, actually!" Blaine sat up straighter at this.

The illusionist scooted his chair over to him, leaning in close as he had during the show. His mouth was once again centimeters from Blaine's ear as he whispered, "You'll have to save the ones about those dimensions until later, my dear." He fell back into the chair and clasped his hands together. Blaine couldn't help the slight shudder that ran through him and knew that it wouldn't go unnoticed. He swallowed and looked at the radio again.

"Has there been… any more news about the blitz?" Blaine tried.

Kurt smiled again, not too wide. It may have been a poor attempt for conversation but appreciated his concern nonetheless. "There will always be more news. We can only hope for the best." He said simply, then added, "They're going to send my brother's body back soon, if that's really what you're asking."

Blaine was at a loss for words yet again. Kurt sighed and waved his fingers at the makeup sitting on the vanity. It wiggled at first but floated over to him anyway. Blaine's eyes widened.

"How did you do _that?_" he asked incredulously.

"Years of practice," the illusionist plucked the brush from the eye shadow and applied it to his eyelids. Blaine didn't think much of it – he was part of the circus, after all.

His mouth opened for another question as a man, whom Blaine recognized as the lion tamer, came bursting through the tent flaps.

"Kurt, rehearsal started ten minutes ago! Why aren't you there?" he practically shouted at them through his gasping. He was very sturdy-looking with a muscular upper body and a strange haircut that Blaine hadn't seen on anyone before.

"I should ask you the same thing, Puck," Kurt flashed him an impish smile while still doing his makeup. He gestured to Blaine. "Well? Aren't you going to introduce yourself to our guest?"

Puck noticed him on the bed and turned a light shade of pink and stuttered, "Oh, uh… hello. I'm Puck-"

"Noah Puckerman," Kurt interjected.

The lion tamer scowled at him and continued, "You're Blaine, right? The one who volunteered at our show last night?" Blaine nodded, still temporarily mute from embarrassment. "Damn, Kurt can't stop talking about you –"

"PUCK!" Kurt yelped. Blaine giggled quietly at Kurt's obvious discomfort – he was so calm and composed that this new, foreign emotion was interesting to see. Puck smiled evilly.

Kurt finished applying the eye shadow and stood up, taking Blaine to the tent flaps with him. He linked his elbows in Blaine's and Puck's as they walked on the gravely path towards the main circus tent. Blaine felt ill at ease as Kurt and Puck chatted like old friends (they probably were, Blaine thought).

"So Blaine, will you?" Kurt turned to him.

"Will I what?" Blaine asked.

"Be his test dummy, of course!" Puck laughed, punching the curly-haired man in the shoulder. It was meant to be playful, but hurt like hell.

"Oh, I.. uh…" in truth, he didn't really want to be the volunteer again. The illusion yesterday scared him, especially where Kurt's 'powers' were concerned.

Kurt leaned his head on Blaine's shoulder in a mock-shoulder-pat so as not to de-link their arms. "Don't worry, I won't send you to an alternate dimension this time. It'll just be basic tricks like levitation and mind reading." Blaine swallowed hard at levitation.

"No sawing in half or anything?" He asked uncertainly.

Kurt scoffed and replied, "Not that medieval shit. That's a magic trick, not an illusion."

Puck leaned behind the illusionist's head and winked at Blaine so Kurt wouldn't see. _He's sensitive about that,_ he mouthed. Blaine mouthed back, _Illusionists!_ and rolled his eyes. Puck had to stifle a particularly loud laugh and Kurt glared at both of them.

"Laugh all you want, boys, but in the end, it's the illusionists that will get you." Kurt winked at Blaine, sending the all too familiar butterflies through his stomach.

They entered the main tent quietly; the other members of the circus were already practicing their routines on stage and around the sides. Blaine sucked in a lungful of air. He'd seen them do these stunts before but seeing it a second time was nonetheless overwhelming. The dancers were spinning to some particularly loud music as the stage hands wheeled in a large cage containing the lions. Puck smiled, his teeth gleaming in the stray beam of bright lighting. He pointed to the cage, gave Blaine a thumbs-up, and strutted over to his animals.

Blaine narrowly avoided knocking over a man on stilts as he followed Kurt through the performers. It was dark on the sidelines since the lights were focused on the center of the tent. He stumbled along behind the illusionist, dodging other performers along the way. "Where exactly are we going, Kurt?" he asked uncertainly.

"Just up ahead here… Andie!" Kurt exclaimed, hugging the contortionist Blaine had met the other day. She was in a nice-fitting, black unitard for practicing. "Where are all of the acrobats?"

Andie looked nervous now, her eyes cast down on Kurt's shoes. "They all got their drafting letters today. They had to be sent off immediately, and it doesn't look like we'll find many replacements as of now." She looked to both of them and warned, "You two had better keep an eye out for your papers. They'll be coming any day now, I'd bet."

She patted both of their shoulders and circled to the other side and walked away backwards. "Don't worry too much, though. I bet this war will be over soon enough." She flipped around and spun away.

Blaine gulped, subconsciously gripping Kurt's sleeve. He blushed when he realized he had been holding onto it for a while. The illusionist stared off near the stage for a minute before resuming walking. He ducked his head when they got to the edge of the stage as he opened a small door carved in the side. Blaine hadn't realized they had a special room beneath the stage, but then again, they did have trap doors on it for other tricks.

"In here," Kurt pointed and slipped inside. Blaine didn't have to bend over as much to avoid hitting his head on the doorway, he realized, silently cursing his short genes. The room was dimly lit with an orange glow around the walls. There weren't many other people in this room; a few stagehands bustled around them, bringing up various props to the stage. Kurt took both of Blaine's hands and dragged him to the center of the room.

"This time, I need to practice some mind control techniques." Kurt laughed at Blaine's terrified expression and reassured him, "It won't be bad, I promise. Are you ready to begin?"


End file.
